Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Computer Engineering
Session: 1
Room: Marriott Balcony A
Amir Majeed - Virginia State University
For my internship under Dr. Ansari I worked with him to program, assemble and test a 3D printed robotic arm. Starting with an older metal prototype, I worked on developing the code to control the individual motors inside the arm using Arduino programming software. This testing was important since its programming would be essentially the same for the 3D printed arm, which I would be getting ready to build. After figuring out the correct code to manipulate the motors it was time to work on the 3D printed parts. This was the longest and most tedious part of the process since I don’t have plenty of experience using screws, washers, etc. What also made this part difficult was how often I had reassembled and disassembled the arm to make sure things were working properly. It took a long time to make sure parts of the arm turned as needed and I even had to consider the added weight which would be one of the downsides to the arms design. As I would build up the arm it would tend to tip over, due to the other parts weight and set angle that they were positioned. The hardest parts to make sure function properly were the gripper and the main up/down turning portion of the arm. The gripper took time to finish because it would often fall apart due to not having long enough screws and I had to improvise holding some parts together using hot glue. Another difficult part about it was the gear mechanism which would cause the gripper to open and close. I had to figure out the proper way to set and connect the mechanism to the motor which would control its movement. In the end the arm is a success. All the motors move how they are supposed to and are all controlled by the code I developed. The only downsides I would say are the weight issue, the arms speed, the grippers ability to hold weight. To improve the weight issue the arm could be better redesigned to have some portion at the bottom in which you could store a weight for the arm to hold its own. Another solution would be making the base out of a heavier material as well. The issue with speed is more of an efficiency problem. I would like to find out if there is a way for the arm to receive its commands faster. The gripper is also an efficiency problem. Although it moves properly its actual ability to pick up an object with some actual weight is not exercisable.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): LSAMP
Faculty Advisor: Jahangir Ansari, jansari@vsu.edu
Role: I did the assembly, system integration and coding for this project.